OAKLAND — A social worker shot and killed while walking his dog Tuesday night was remembered by friends as a compassionate man devoted to helping others.

Marlon Mayorga, 41, was shot about 10:30 p.m. in the 3200 block of Champion Street behind St. Jarlath Church. He had been walking his husky-German shepherd mix, something he was known to do nightly, police said.

Police responding to calls about the shooting found Mayorga about a half-block from his home. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Highland Hospital. The dog was uninjured, and police found him about a block away.

Mayorga had earned a master's degree in social work from San Francisco State in 2007, said Roberto Vargas, a friend who visited Mayorga's family Wednesday.

After working for years as a manager at Walden House, a well-known substance-abuse treatment center, Mayorga worked in the trauma recovery center at UC San Francisco, helping support victims of violence, Vargas said.

"His passion was helping folks get over addictions, cycles of illness," Vargas said. "And partially because of that, for years he was devoted to not smoking or drinking."

Mayorga was a loving husband and the father of a 3-year-old girl, and he grew up in Daly City and also liked to teach salsa dancing, Vargas said.

Police Sgt. Caesar Basa said Wednesday that police hadn't established a motive for the killing but had not ruled out robbery. No arrests have been made.

"It's

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just unbelievable that a man can't even walk his dog in his neighborhood without being attacked," Basa said.

There have been 38 homicides reported in Oakland this year, down slightly from 40 at the same time in 2008.

"I grew up in Oakland, lived there my whole life. And I always had this belief if you weren't involved in criminal life, usually you're not the victim of this kind of stuff," police Sgt. Richard Vierra said. "But a man in his 40s? They're usually out of the game at that point. His name was not associated with a lot of violence. It really makes people stand up and take notice: That could have been my mom. That could have been my dad."

Mayorga's family asked Wednesday that anyone who saw or heard anything call police to help find the killer.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering as much as $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of suspects. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211.